A S F E A T U R E D I N A U S T R A L I A N C O N S T R U C T I O N F O C U S

BUILDING ISTHE EASY PART

Rahan Constructions

Rahan Construction

Building relationships is essentially what differentiates a good builder from an indifferent one, according to Rahan Constructions’ director Bill North. For him, the relationship compo-nent is the important element. “We often talk about building being the relatively easy part; it is really managing people and delivering a process that makes the difference...

ARCHIE’S ELECTRICAL

“AEC as an electrical subcontractor have an ongoing valued relationship with Rahan Constructions Pty Ltd.”- Bill North, Director

Archie’s Electrical Contracting Pty Ltd (AEC) specialises in the design, supply and installation of commercial, indus-trial and domestic electrical projects in Victoria. Our dedicated and professional teams work safely and efficiently to achieve quality results for our clients. As reflected in our business motto, ‘…get switched on safely!’, AEC places the highest importance on Occupational Health and Safety. With a customer service delivery a priority, AEC has built a reputation for completing projects on time and providing cost effective alternatives. Managing Director, Richard Arceri, has 25 years experience in the electrical industry and 18 years experience as an electrical contractor. He has developed his respected business to now include 24 staff.

Written by John Boley

Rahan Constructions celebrates its 20th Anniversary

and a sustainable successful building outlook beyond

2013. It would be a major understatement to suggest

that Rahan Constructions values its clients highly. This is, after

all, a company that went to the trouble of trademarking the

expression “Building Relationships.

Building relationships is essentially what differentiates a

good builder from an indifferent one, according to Rahan

Constructions’ Director Bill North. For him, the relationship

component is the important element. “We often talk about

building being the relatively easy part; it is really managing

people and delivering a process that makes the difference

– managing not only the external clients’ needs and wishes,

together with our subcontractors and suppliers and Rahan in-

ternal procedures to make sure that we have the best chance

of delivering a fantastic project for our clients.” ‘Building rela-

tionships™’ sums up Rahan, he says, because it is “something

we believe in not only externally but internally with our own

staff and subcontractors.”

Bill is in his second tenure period with Rahan, having worked

for founder Doug Hargrave, Managing Director, in the late

1990s as a Contract Administrator. Bill returned in 2003 as

Manager and took up his current position as Director in 2006.

Both Doug and Bill have been in construction for more than

30 years. Bill explains that it is no secret some jobs go more

smoothly than others. Often you cannot predict which will

be good and which not so good, but the best ones, the more

satisfactory ones, are where “people leave their ego outside

the site shed.”

He goes along with the frequently expressed view that the re-

lationship between the various people working on a project

– for example architect, superintendent, project manager,

builder and the client – is too often adversarial, but at Rahan,

“we have moved a long way from that.” The best, the most

productive projects are those where “we work as a collabora-

tive group and solutions for the building process are a team

effort.” Bill cites one particular client for whom Rahan’s first

job, won on a hard money tender, turned out to be prob-

lematic – issues of town planning, supply and subcontract-

ing – but “we got in and worked collaboratively” and, 25

projects later, the relationship with that client is “beautifully”

strong and productive.

This constructive ‘can-do’ approach has its own rewards even

in a tough market in Victoria (Rahan Constructions has its main

office in Collingwood, in Melbourne’s north-east). Bill says the

company has never marketed itself in a big way. “Traditionally

the work has been coming in via word of mouth. That is still

happening now and the relationships maintained over years

of repeat projects with some architectural firms ensure that we

are still receiving notification of tenders which aren’t through

marketing or having to register. Rahan was contacted by a con-

sultant that we had worked with about four years ago for a

recent tender. That has been one of the blessings of Rahan, I

suppose, that even in tight times we can still get the projects

to come through, to price competitively and hopefully win.”

Rahan’s company size has proven sustainable for 20 years. Both

Directors are of the viewpoint that sometimes larger doesn’t

mean better. “Of course people

tell me that we should be out

marketing more and becoming

bigger and better.

Rahan has something of a niche

in the education and aged care sector, although over the years

the company has seen showrooms, fire stations, warehousing

and retail/apartment projects diversify its project portfolio.

Rahan is always open to projects that are challenging. “That is

the beauty of this game.”

The aged care sector is growing fast, Bill confirms. “From a

buildability or architectural point of view it does not present

as great a statement as doing a state of the art design like a

university. But it provides opportunities in the fact that we

are an ageing population that we will have to service. So

that is an opportunity, certainly – in terms of sheer numbers.

I don’t know what that will mean in 50 years’ time – if we

are not having enough kids, does that mean we will have

an Australia full of aged care facilities with no one to go in

them? I don’t know, but it is certainly a booming sector at

the moment.”

Rahan Constructions has a valued staffing team. “We have

about 35 people, of which there are nine located at Head

Office and the balance form our

construction team on the sites,

from site managers to site labour-

ers. We also have our own carpen-

try crew, where we are developing

apprenticeships.” It is important,

Bill says, to provide continuity of staff through training, for

those members “to be our next leaders as we evolve. We

believe in trying to provide the best facilities that we can at

Head Office to encourage people to stay, develop and grow.

Similarly, on site we believe in training and bringing people

up to new levels all the time because it is our team of people

who make Rahan. It is not necessarily Bill North or Doug Har-

grave – it’s the guys underneath delivering for our clients, ar-

chitects and superintendents, so we certainly believe in the

value of our people.”

It’s the same story with the subcontractors. Building rela-

tionships pays dividends. “We all try to do things on time,

on budget. We continually develop great relationships with

people to deliver that, which is what we are about.” The cli-

ent’s needs are really quite simple, says Bill. “They want a

quality facility handed over to them, ready to use in the way

that was planned, with a minimum of fuss and a minimum of

issues. And that’s what we try to achieve.”

It’s no great surprise then that Rahan has collected its own

band of loyal subcontractors that are used on a regular basis.

“We have quite a few subcontractors who we can turn to for

additional support, expertise and manpower as and when re-

quired. It’s a very pleasing situation to be in.”

Rahan certainly employs the best of some traditional values

but as Bill points out, Rahan is also a progressive firm. When

he, himself returned to Rahan he insisted on bringing with

him a job costing system that he regards as the best. It is an

Australian system with integrated accounting, payroll and job

costing. A long association with the software provider has

nurtured an Australia wide business forum, networked from

the construction industry and a solid users group. “Rahan,” he

says, “certainly pushes the boundaries as to the software ca-

pabilities and what we expect to get out of it both efficiently

and accurately. It is another relationship where we talk about

building or growing together, because they understand our

needs and we understand what they are trying to do with the

Australian market. I think that is a very important component

of getting our buildings constructed.” As he said before, Bill

reminds us that the actual “building is the easy bit!”

To contact Rahan, please visit the company website at: www.rahan.com.au

LALOR GARDENS PRIMARY SCHOOL

A project just being finished off by Rahan Constructions is Lalor Gardens Primary School, funded by the Federal Government’s BER scheme in the third round of the BER roll-out. The $6.8 million project was an original design by Patrick Architects that had been in the design phase for many years before finally getting the green light with the aid of the BER funding.

The Lalor Gardens Primary School project required the complete demolition of the existing school buildings, in-cluding in-ground services and tanks. This was followed by the construction of a unique 2000 square metre design building comprising a central administration spine with four wings branching off in an X fashion used for general teaching purposes in large open communal spaces. Each wing has a central high ceiling with clerestory windows that offer excellent natural lighting and a feeling of openness and abundant space.

Bright colours dominate the interior and exterior spaces, with unique matching wall and carpet colours identify-ing the individual wings. The main foyer entry welcomes visitors with the natural warmth of timber ply wall and ceiling panels and re-claimed timber flooring, all finished in a natural lacquer. Externally, a series of linked concrete pathways and courtyards have been designed to allow disabled access to any point in the building by encircling the entire structure.

The project started in early December 2010 and encountered huge soft spot issues across the major-ity of the building footprint. Slab preparations started in earnest in April 2011 and the project has pro-gressed extremely well due to dedicated staff and sub-contractors and is due for completion at the end of April 2012. Significant and invaluable contributions from both the project managers (Savills) and the consulting team (Patrick Architects, ALA and Perrett Simpson) have helped to deliver the project on budget and ahead of schedule.

RAHAN CONSTRUCTIONwww.rahan.com.au

675 Victoria Street | Abbotsford VIC 3067

Phone: 02 8412 8119 | ABN 93 143 238 126